At The Flix with @Timmy666

Happy New Year! Welcome to the first #AtTheFlix of the New Year! As the countdown to awards season approaches, so expect a number of films that are just Oscar worthy versus those that are a little bit more Oscar bait!

It’s a quiet week in terms of mainstream releases this week following a busy Christmas period with films such as The Danish Girl and In the Heart of the Sea. Let’s take a genders.,

Hateful Eight, The (18) Out on wide release this week is Quentin Tarantino’s latest magnum opus, The Hateful Eight. As Tarantino approaches his self-announcement retirement, love him or hate him, each release comes with a mass of anticipation. Even at his most self-indulgent, Tarantino is an auteur of the ticks and eccentricities of cinema with a keen eye for genre-bending entertainment with knowing post-modern pokes at anything in his way, and always with ultra-violence, punchy dialogue and rip-roaring music!

So in the Hateful Eight, most of those constituents are in place, a three-hour Tarantino Western, a cast filled with Tarantino regulars and shot in glorious 70mm (oh for a local screen that can max this format!) with the added joy of a Ennio Morricone score mixed in with some typical Tarantino DJ-ing.

There are few directors who effectively have a niche all of their own – how many times have I said Tarantino above?

Being Tarantino he doesn’t lack self-importance in his own content – three hours long and one might argue where’s the word “cut”. Critical response has ranged from the five-star eulogies to those who find his ticks overbearing at times. Tarantino continues to divide opinion. I tend to err to the former – I think his films are never less than a compelling proposition and worth the price of a cinematic ticket!

It’s a film of beauty and heartbreak. It gave us Julie Christie and in Freddie Young, some of cinema’s greatest photography.

Radiator (15) Running Monday through Thursday at the mac, here’s the opportunity to see Tom Browne’s joyous and pithy portrayal of a marriage unravelling, in typical British fashion, held together by fear and familiarity.

The Lesson (15) Showing at the mac next Wednesday and Thursday, this tough 2014 Bulgarian drama follows a woman’s desperation to keep her house at all costs. Filled with honesty and reality, the film has resonated in the art house circles, garnering awards at film festivals globally and it is good to see it getting a showing next week.

That’s it from me this week. As always, if you have any quibbles or comments, I’m available on Twitter at @timmy666. Have a great week at the movies.